INTRODUCTION Osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of bone marrow stromal (BMS) cells depends on the cells’ interactions with bioactive peptides associated with the matrix proteins. Multiple bioactive peptides in the bone ECM, interact with progenitor BMS cells to initiate the cascade of chemotaxis, differentiation, and mineralization. The peptide KIPKASSVPTELSAISTLYL (hereafter referre...

Certain peptide folds, owing to a combination of intrinsic stability and resilience to amino acid substitutions, are particularly effective for the display of diverse functional groups. Such "privileged scaffolds" are valuable as starting points for the engineering of new bioactive molecules. We have identified a precursor peptide expressed in the venom gland of the marine snail Conus victoriae...

The traditional methods for mining foods for bioactive peptides are tedious and long. Similar to the drug industry, the length of time to identify and deliver a commercial health ingredient that reduces disease symptoms can take anything between 5 to 10 years. Reducing this time and effort is crucial in order to create new commercially viable products with clear and important health benefits. I...

The conventional wisdom is that certain classes of bioactive peptides have specific structural features that endow their particular functions. Accordingly, predictions of bioactivity have focused on particular subgroups, such as antimicrobial peptides. We hypothesized that bioactive peptides may share more general features, and assessed this by contrasting the predictive power of existing antim...

Wasp venoms contain a number of pharmacologically active biomolecules, undertaking a wide range of functions necessary for the wasp's survival. We purified and characterized a novel bioactive peptide (vespin) from the venoms of Vespa magnifica (Smith) wasps with unique primary structure. Its amino acid sequence was determined to be CYQRRVAITAGGLKHRLMSSLIIIIIIRINYLRDNSVIILESSY. It has 44 residue...

Human milk contains active proteases that initiate hydrolysis of milk proteins within the mammary gland. Milk expressed at the beginning of feeding is known as foremilk and that at the end of feeding is known as hindmilk. As hindmilk contains higher fat, vitamins A and E, and higher calories than foremilk, feeding only hindmilk initially and reserving foremilk for later are practiced in some ne...